***Official*** England in New Zealand series 2013

[Flem274*]

Watling will be fine at 5/6. It's not all about boom boom, and that's what Franklin is there for. He can just run the singles and is capable of hitting boundaries, just through good shots rather than pure power.

Didn't he bat right down the order and finish on 50* several times last year?

[Meridio]

Originally Posted by Mike "****ing" Hesson

Andrew proved his worth with the team last summer

Ellis' international record:

ODIs: 132 runs @ 14.66
       8 wickets @ 33
T20: 19 runs @ 9.5
     0 wickets @ infinity. RPO 10.00

Yep, proved his worth alright. What a player.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Flem274*

Watling will be fine at 5/6. It's not all about boom boom, and that's what Franklin is there for. He can just run the singles and is capable of hitting boundaries, just through good shots rather than pure power.

Didn't he bat right down the order and finish on 50* several times last year?

If McCullum plays as a finisher and bats 6-7 I think that's fine really; he should be good at that. I agree that he shouldn't be batting 3-5 in ODIs though.

[Mike5181]

Originally Posted by Flem274*

Watling will be fine at 5/6. It's not all about boom boom, and that's what Franklin is there for. He can just run the singles and is capable of hitting boundaries, just through good shots rather than pure power.

Didn't he bat right down the order and finish on 50* several times last year?

Franklin isn't just a boom boom guy, nor is Elliot. They are both well capable of filling the middle-order knock it around for singles role in that 5/6 position, there's no point having all three of Elliot, Franklin, and Watling from 5-7 in the batting order. Watling averages 48 as an opener against non-minnows, and isn't just after a quick 25(10). He can get 40(55-65). That's exactly what we need up there to avoid an early collapse, and give the guys down the order some freedom later on in the innings. In the last two years, McCullum averages 10 as an opener against non-minnows.

[hendrix]

why is Hamish Rutherford in the t20 squad?

[Flem274*]

Batting McCullum at 5 isn't going to help that average though.

As PEWS said, if Watling needs to open because McCullum plays as a pure finisher thats fine because he was good at that before his initial move to opener, but there's no way he should be at 4 or 5.

[Kippax]

Originally Posted by hendrix

why is Hamish Rutherford in the t20 squad?

Why? Because he's an Eden Park/Seddon Park kind of guy.

AUCKLAND ACES vs OTAGO VOLTS

[Mike5181]

Originally Posted by Flem274*

Batting McCullum at 5 isn't going to help that average though.

As PEWS said, if Watling needs to open because McCullum plays as a pure finisher thats fine because he was good at that before his initial move to opener, but there's no way he should be at 4 or 5.

Watling is the better opener of the two. Therefore he doesn't need to play as an opener because McCullum is a finisher. The latter should be filling the finisher role because he isn't as good as BJ as an opener, and he already has a wealth of experience in the position. 4 isn't relevant at all here. You can disagree with 5, but he's a finisher anyway. He can play anywhere from 5-7 depending on the situation. Elliot could easily play 5, and knock it around for singles. McCullum/Franklin are well capable of playing in the 35-50 over period in the innings. It makes no sense to move Watling for the tenth time.

[Athlai]

The idea of filling a team with Wellington batsman for their ability to play out a knock fills me with disgust.

[jcas0167]

Well done to Rutherford. I haven't seen much of him, but seems like a good ball striker and will offer an attacking left hand opening option in Ryder's absence.

[Athlai]

Hope we don't see anything of Rutherford till after the Champions Trophy at the earliest. Any other batsman doing anything of note domestically?

[Mike5181]

Originally Posted by Athlai

Hope we don't see anything of Rutherford till after the Champions Trophy at the earliest. Any other batsman doing anything of note domestically?

Neil Broom's averaging 45+.

[Athlai]

Neil Broom will definitely get a Test match one day IMO.

[Mike5181]

He better tbh. The fact that he's got nearly 5000 first-class runs @ 41 without making his debut is quite amazing. That's not to say he's better than guys like Flynn. Most of the regular test batsmen we've tried average mid-40s in the Plunket Shield. His wrongful selection as an ODI finisher a few years back hasn't helped either.

[Kippax]

Originally Posted by Meridio

Ellis' international record:

ODIs: 132 runs @ 14.66
       8 wickets @ 33
T20: 19 runs @ 9.5
     0 wickets @ infinity. RPO 10.00

Yep, proved his worth alright. What a player.

Really has to play with the big boys when he's putting the shoulder into it tbh. Refuses to leave kids like Chops alone domestically.

Ellis roughs up du Plessis - YouTube